The Age of Fable eBook

When so many less active agencies were personified,
it is not to be supposed that the winds failed to
be so. They were Boreas or Aquilo, the north
wind; Zephyrus or Favonius, the west; Notus or Auster,
the south; and Eurus, the east. The first two
have been chiefly celebrated by the poets, the former
as the type of rudeness, the latter of gentleness.
Boreas loved the nymph Orithyia, and tried to play
the lover’s part, but met with poor success.
It was hard for him to breathe gently, and sighing
was out of the question. Weary at last of fruitless
endeavors, he acted out his true character, seized
the maiden and carried her off. Their children
were Zetes and Calais, winged warriors, who accompanied
the Argonautic expedition, and did good service in
an encounter with those monstrous birds the Harpies.

Zephyrus was the lover of Flora. Milton alludes
to them in “Paradise Lost,” where he describes
Adam waking and contemplating Eve still asleep.

Dr. Young, the poet of the “Night Thoughts,”
addressing the idle and luxurious, says:

“Ye delicate! who nothing can
support (Yourselves most insupportable) for whom
The winter rose must blow, ... ... and silky
soft Favonius breathe still softer or be chid!”

CHAPTER XXIII

ACHELOUS AND HERCULES—­ADMETUS AND ALCESTIS—­ANTIGONE—­PENELOPE

ACHELOUS AND HERCULES

The river-god Achelous told the story of Erisichthon
to Theseus and his companions, whom he was entertaining
at his hospitable board, while they were delayed on
their journey by the overflow of his waters.
Having finished his story, he added, “But why
should I tell of other persons’ transformations
when I myself am an instance of the possession of
this power? Sometimes I become a serpent, and
sometimes a bull, with horns on my head. Or I
should say I once could do so; but now I have but
one horn, having lost one.” And here he
groaned and was silent.

Theseus asked him the cause of his grief, and how
he lost his horn. To which question the river-god
replied as follows: “Who likes to tell
of his defeats? Yet I will not hesitate to relate
mine, comforting myself with the thought of the greatness
of my conqueror, for it was Hercules. Perhaps
you have heard of the fame of Dejanira, the fairest
of maidens, whom a host of suitors strove to win.
Hercules and myself were of the number, and the rest
yielded to us two. He urged in his behalf his
descent from Jove and his labors by which he had exceeded